his hair. “I’ve been a wreck ever since you reactivated your Match.com profile.”
I furrowed my brow. “I didn’t reactivate my profile.”
“No?”
“I haven’t signed on since before the summer.”
It hit me that I wasn’t the only one with access to that account. Eve had set it up. A reactivated profile, posting a picture of me on Instagram smiling while sitting next to another man…something told me those weren’t a coincidence. I started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“You, jealous.”
His brows rose. “You think me going out of my mind is funny?”
“I do. It serves you right for dumping me. I’m thinking I should go out on a few dates and post a pictorial on Instagram just for you.”
Ford’s jaw clenched, but he also had to work to hide a smirk. He leaned forward, bent me over his shoulder, and lifted, flipping me onto my back in some stealth move.
Hovering over me, he pushed a stray hair from my face. “Can we pick up where we left off?”
“You mean sneaking around like teenagers and hiding from my son and your sister?”
He rubbed his nose with mine. “No, I mean falling more in love.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think I can, Ford.”
His face dropped, and the pain in his eyes was truly real. I couldn’t hurt him like that, even after what he’d put me through.
Reaching up, I stroked his cheek. “I can’t because I’m not sure it’s possible to fall more in love with you.”
His chin dropped to his chest, and he let out a deep, low chuckle. “You’re going to make me pay for a long time, aren’t you?”
I grinned. “Oh yeah.”
Ford pressed his lips to mine. A warmth that had been missing since the summer immediately spread through my body. God, I’d missed him so much.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I should have never walked away. I thought if I let you go, if you came back, you would be mine for good.”
“When someone is already inside of you, you can’t just let go of their heart. The only way to disconnect is to break it.”
“Yeah. I know that now. Do you remember when you asked me if it was possible to have the right feelings at the wrong time?”
I nodded. “I was terrified back then.”
“We both were, just at different times. The truth is, you can never have the right feelings at the wrong time, because there is never a wrong time for the right person.”
I looked into his eyes. “Let’s stop running away from each other.”
Ford rested his forehead to mine. “I freaking love you, Valentina. I love how you have no rhythm, but it doesn’t stop you from dancing. I love how you sneeze when you’re nervous and still try to hide that you are. I love the little sound you make when you come, and that you give yourself so completely to me that you don’t even know you make it. I love that you went back to school and want to go after all the things you didn’t get to do. But most of all, I love you because I have to…I can’t not love you. I tried, and it’s physically impossible.”
“God, Ford. I love you, too. And I want the whole world to know it. Including my son.”
“Good. I’ll give you a hand in passing out the message.” He took hold of my waist, and suddenly I was in the air and plopped back down on his lap, straddling him. “I’ll start by telling the guy who dropped you off.”
Chapter 32
* * *
Ford
I tossed my keys on the table and yelled, “Val?”
“I’m upstairs! Getting changed.”
“Our reservations are for eight thirty. Don’t take too long.”
I’d had a late meeting this afternoon, and tonight had been the winter parent-teacher night at her school, so we were going out to eat. It had been one long-ass week, and it wasn’t even Friday yet.
Val had been a nervous wreck about meeting with parents, especially with the few students who weren’t doing so hot in her class. It didn’t help that last weekend, when she’d planned to prepare a little summary of notes on each student, she’d had an unexpected visitor who took up the majority of her free time.
Her son had again surprised her, coming home early for winter recess. Well, he’d surprised both of us, actually. Valentina hadn’t yet told him about us. She’d wanted to tell him in person when he came home on break, instead of over the phone. Her plan had been to talk to him